Friday, November 30, 2012

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Marie will be awarding a $25.00 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

With his father gone missing and his mother losing her grip on reality, Peter Bailey’s life is no picnic. Peter’s gray existence changes unexpectedly after he takes his new snowboard for a ride in the mountains of Colorado and is stunned to find himself in Transadonia – a hidden world that coexists alongside with the Earth.

Lara Grover never listened to her elders, so warnings like “do not talk to strangers” mean nothing to her. When a boy from an unknown world saves her from an avalanche with the aid of a snow dragon, Lara is not stunned in the least. Instead, she joins Peter on his quest to help him realize the purpose behind his arrival to Transadonia.

Together, Lara and Peter embark on an adventure filled with perils, trickery, betrayals, and unexpected alliances.

Read an excerpt chosen especially for us:

The Viglian king was one of the Chancellor’s greatest allies and friends. Viglians, however, were not the only inhabitants of the Vigli Mountains. The lower parts of the mountains were also inhabited by giants and other magical beings in the realm. For this reason, the help of the Viglian king was invaluable when it came to overseeing the matters of Transadonia’s northern borders. The Viglian king was happy to assist the Chancellor and alerted the Chancellor to any unusual events that transpired in the region, and that was the reason that King Ragnvald had come to visit the Chancellor.

From the moment King Ragnvald was ushered into the Chancellor’s study, it became obvious that the Viglian king was alarmed.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of your unexpected visit, King Ragnvald?” asked the Chancellor, glad to see his old friend, yet deeply worried by what reasons were behind Ragnvald’s urgent visit.

“As always, it is wonderful to see you, Chancellor Libra, but I am afraid I bring bad tidings. I am a man of action and few words, so I will get straight to it,” announced Ragnvald, taking a seat in a leather armchair. “A week ago the giants’ settlement was attacked by a group of raiders. We have watchmen stationed in our fortress, monitoring all locations that could be a possible point of attack. Through their binoculars, our watchmen can spot the tiniest objects miles away, but these invaders came out of nowhere, and our watchmen did not notice them until the attack was in full force. There was something unnatural about these raiders. Their movements and all their actions seemed odd and mechanical, as if they were string puppets being controlled by some evil, invisible puppeteer. The raiders were armed with strange and mysterious weapons, the like of which I have never seen before. When fired, the weapon emitted a flash of bright light and made its target vanish into thin air. Needless to say, the mysterious weapons spread panic amongst the giants, and despite their immense height and girth, the giants ran around in panic and were easily defeated by the raiders as they literally evaporated every single one of them. We wanted to help the giants fight the raiders, but before we could even begin dispatching our troops, all the giants were gone. And then the most unbelievable thing happened – the raiders pointed their guns at themselves and vanished along with the giants.”

The Chancellor’s normally calm, benevolent face was lined with solemnity and care as he listened to Ragnvald’s story.

“And that is not all,” continued Ragnvald. “In all honesty, I should have come to see you sooner, but I did not want to worry you unnecessarily and hoped that this matter would resolve itself. As you know, up in the tops of the Vigli Mountains,” Ragnvald couldn’t help patting his beard proudly as he spoke of his beloved home even in this time of distress, “the snow never melts. Yet, over the past few months, it has become unnaturally warm, and the snow is melting rapidly. Granted, there is still a substantial amount of snow, and to an outsider it may appear as though there is not anything amiss, but to us the difference is striking. At first, I dismissed this sudden change as some fluke of nature, hoping it would remedy itself, but now, coupled with the recent attack on the giants, I’m beginning to suspect that all of these events are somehow connected. And so I’ve set out to see you at once.”

About the Author:

Dear Reader,

Thank you very much for joining me for Over the Mountain and Back blog tour. The story of Over the Mountain and Back began over twenty years ago when I was fourteen years old and decided to write a novel as an anniversary gift for my parents. It was going to be a fantasy adventure about a boy named Peter and a girl named Lara set in a magical country, Transadonia. I remember writing studiously on the pages of an ornate notebook I had acquired especially for the occasion. Back then computers were not yet widely used, so I had to pay extra care to my handwriting. A year later, Over the Mountain and Back was completed, or at least I had thought so at the time. Needless to say my parents were very surprised with their anniversary gift.

Years passed; I finished high school and went on to college. Lara’s and Peter’s story faded from my mind, replaced by the hustles and bustles of everyday life. Then, one day – the day that happened to be my thirtieth birthday, my parents presented me with a gift: it was oblong in shape and wrapped in shiny paper. After I opened the wrapping, I was stunned to find the long forgotten story I had written all those years ago.

Long story short, after two years of extensive work, I rewrote and expanded Over the Mountain and Back into a novel of 95,000 words. For me it had been an exciting journey to be reunited with my old friends: Lara and Peter, Forest Witch Ramona, Chancellor Libra, Bookbrownies, and, of course, Carnelion, among the many others.

I hope that you will join Lara and Peter on their adventure in Transadonia.

If you would like to find out more about my books, please stop by website: www.MarieAstor.com.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Long and Short Reviews welcomes Chloe Jacobs, whose YA debut, Greta and the Goblin King, has been released. It's a dark fantasy with a fairy tale twist. Chloe has written many other books, some of them published for adult readers under a different name, but Greta and the Goblin King is her favorite so far.

"I think of it as Hansel and Gretel meets Alice in Wonderland, meets Labyrinth, the Lost Boys, and with a kick-butt heroine who hides a soft heart," Chloe told me.

When it was a work in progress, Chloe needed a name, because calling it "that fantasy book" sounded pretty lame to her. She started calling it "Greta."

"Then the Goblin King's character was like 'Hey, what about me? Am I not an important part of this book too, or what?'," she explained, "so I had to call it Greta and the Goblin King, and it kind of stuck."

She's currently working on Book 2 in the series—which is still without a title. She told me that she was sure it would come to her which she was in the shower or something.

Chloe's been surprised to find that she can't get enough of Greta's world.

"I really want to keep writing books in Mylena," she said. "I didn’t plan it or anything, but the world that I built for her is so rich and interesting that I find myself discovering new corners of it every time I sit down at the computer."

In Chloe's writing, descriptions of her characters usually start with something about their personality. I asked her to explain this.

"For example, Greta is impatient, and it shows in the flash of her green eyes, or the way she tilts her hip. And the Goblin King is STUBBORN AS HELL, which becomes obvious whenever he gives Greta that particular look."

"What is your work schedule like when you are writing?" I asked.

"I write every day. Sometimes for only an hour, sometimes it takes me all day. But I keep going until I’ve reached my word goal for the day. This goal varies depending on my deadline, but since I work a day job too, the word goal has to be manageable so I try for 1500 to 2000 words on a weekday, and sometimes more on weekends (although I try to keep weekends for the family)."

When she's not writing or at her day job, one of Chloe's hobbies is working with stained glass. Right now she's trying to find time to make some Christmas ornaments for friends,family, and possibly even readers.

Even though she's written several books, Chloe didn't actually grow up wanting to be an author. She always wanted to be a ballerina, but then discovered she couldn't dance. After that, she thought it would be cool to be a cop, but she doesn't like guns—so that career was out. She figured out that maybe she could write code to make video games, because she loves playing them. However, she found out she doesn't understand that language at all.

"So I think I’ll stick with writer," she told me, "unless the job of exclusive tropical resort tester comes available. If I got paid to travel to tropical resorts all over the world and report back about how great they are, I’d jump at that job."

For fun, I asked Chloe, "If you were stranded on a desert island and were only allowed to have five modern conveniences with you, what would they be?"

"Is this island going to be swarmed by zombies when the sun goes down? That might affect what I bring. But seriously, I would need toilet paper. First and foremost. I’m a diva, yes. I refuse to use a leaf (especially when I know nothing about botany and that leaf could be poison oak. I’d never know it). Then I’d need a sleeping bag because I don’t want anything…ANYTHING … crawling on me during the night. I would need an axe to cut down trees (and those zombies), a bottle of rum and a great book!"

Finally, I asked, "What advice would you give a new writer just starting out?"

"I would tell a new writer just starting out to enjoy the journey. I know that we all look ahead to that ultimate goal—publication—and dream of it even before the first chapter of our first book has been written. But seriously, enjoy the process. Learn your craft, take pleasure in all of it because if you don’t enjoy it, you may ultimately finish writing the book and it could even get published…but then what? You have to start another book. And then another. A career writing all those books is going to get stagnant pretty fast if you don’t LOVE what you’re doing, and readers will be able to tell that your heart isn’t in it."

About the Author:

Chloe Jacobs is a native of nowhere and everywhere, having jumped around to practically every Province of Canada before finally settling in Ontario where she has now been living for a respectable number of years. Her husband and son are the two best people in the entire world, but they also make her wish she'd at least gotten a female cat. No such luck. And although the day job keeps her busy, she carves out as much time as possible to write. Bringing new characters to life and finding out what makes them tick and how badly she can make them suffer is one of her greatest pleasures, almost better than chocolate and fuzzy pink bunny slippers.

While trying to save her brother four years ago, Greta was thrown into the witch’s fire herself, falling through a portal to a dangerous world where humans are the enemy, and every ogre, goblin, and ghoul has a dark side that comes out with the full moon.

To survive, seventeen-year-old Greta has hidden her humanity and taken the job of bounty hunter—and she’s good at what she does. So good, she’s caught the attention of Mylena’s young Goblin King, the darkly enticing Isaac, who invades her dreams and undermines her determination to escape.

But Greta’s not the only one looking to get out of Mylena. The full moon is mere days away, and an ancient evil knows she’s the key to opening the portal. If Greta fails, she and the lost boys of Mylena will die. If she succeeds, no world will be safe from what follows her back…

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

This post is part of a virtual tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions.
Jennifer will award 2 of each 8x10 autographed print of an original illustration of one of her characters to randomly drawn commenters on the tour, and a grand prize of an 11x17 autographed set of all three main characters in the book. (US/Canada only) Click on the tour banner above to see the other stops on the tour.

Coming up with the story idea for A PART TO PLAY

In planning A PART TO PLAY, I started with the emotional journey I wanted my main character to experience. I knew immediately I wanted to write a young adult story, and I wanted my story to have a strong message – that is, the importance of believing in oneself. Then, to develop my plot, I thought of my most favorite stories of all time from movies, plays, and books. One of these happens to be The Phantom of the Opera. I didn't want my book to be a retelling of that classic story, but rather I wanted it to draw inspiration from what I considered the most captivating parts. I loved the mystery and the powerful role that music played in the story; I also found the dark side of the Phantom intriguing.

Once I had that basic premise, I needed something at the beginning of the story to make my character lose all self-belief, which in this case happens with the death of her beloved sister and the subsequent breakdown of her family. As a writer, I explore big questions that I personally have about life. In A PART TO PLAY, I explore the death of a child in a tight-knit family. As I consider becoming a parent myself, I wonder how I could survive losing my child – it seems like one of the worst possible things that could happen in life. Lucy, the main character of my story, watches as her parents are consumed by grief, and she naturally begins to doubt her worth.

By the time she arrives at the Edmond School for Performing Arts, where our story begins, Lucy doesn't know what to think anymore. She hears music coming from underground, and eventually meets the musician who has helped her find something to focus on besides her grief. I explored the idea of both main characters in my story, Lucy and the musician, having the same flaw – how that brings them together, and how it drives them apart. It was important to me to show Lucy's gradual shift. I wanted the reader to come along on Lucy's journey, to feel what it is to be at the bottom and to experience with her the joy of first love and finally finding a way to cope with the loss of her family.

In later revisions, I felt that Lucy must confront her parents. It was part of the process for her to recover her sense of self. Then my story became something new. It wasn't just about loss, romance, and finding your own way; it was also about recognizing parents as fallible people who we can no more rely on for our self-worth than anyone else in life. Ultimately, no matter the parallels between my novel and The Phantom of the Opera, it is truly about the strength of a young girl who manages to carry on even though everyone around her seems to have given up.

Jennifer L. Fry is a writer, artist, and teacher in Marin County, California, where she lives with her wonderful husband, two adorable dogs, and orange tabby cat. Though she has been writing since she was young, A PART TO PLAY is her first novel.

When fifteen-year-old actress Lucy Carter loses her older sister in a car accident, her mother shuts down and her father can’t hold the family together. Their only choice is to ship Lucy off to the Edmond School for Performing Arts. But boarding school is no cure for Lucy’s grief. With failing grades, wooden stage performances, and curfew violations, Lucy is threatened with expulsion. For the once talented Lucy, it feels as though she has nowhere to turn.

One night, Lucy hears mysterious music drifting through the school’s old heating system. The music leads her to a troubled but passionate songwriter whose brilliance gives her the strength to perform like never before. Yet their intense relationship puts Lucy in a precarious position: if she follows her muse, will she lose herself? And if she breaks it off, can she stand on her own again?

Friday, November 16, 2012

Long and Short Reviews welcomes Cindi Madsen, whose newest book, All the Broken Pieces, will be released in December from Entangled Publishing.

In All the Broken Pieces, Liv wakes up from a coma with no memory of her past. Cindi is huge on strong females, but she told me that Liv was a tricky character to write.

"She's recovering from a major accident that’s wrecked her memory and body. All she’s ever known is her parents," Cindi explained. "I wouldn’t call her weak, but she’s definitely vulnerable. That’s why I love when she starts learning to stand up for herself. With Spencer (cute mysterious boy with his own broken past) she can be herself. The dynamic between them was fun to write, and together, they both grew stronger and worked through their pasts. Writing that transformation made me love the characters even more."

She currently has a companion novel to All the Broken Pieces in the works, but she can't say much about that book yet. She also has an urban fantasy called Demons of the Sun coming out this year.

"It's got a kickass heroine, a hot warrior, and lots of swordplay and kissing," she told me with a smile.

"Which comes first," I wondered, "the plot or the character?"

"I’ve had both happen. As the characters grow stronger, they become my main focus, though. I fall hard for my characters and I get a little sad when I have to put them through so much. I get a sense about the characters, and an idea, then scenes start coming (often starting with the kissing, because that’s the whole point, right?) I ask what will make these two characters perfect for each other, and what will make it almost impossible for them to be together. Then I start writing scenes, waiting to see where it all ends up. I tried to do an outline once and it felt like homework. I never loved that book. But to each their own. I know great writers who plot every tiny detail."

The hardest part of writing for Cindi is the middle of the book.

"I’ve got the beginning and usually have a good idea of what I need to happen, but there are still things that need to be pulled together, but I want the pacing to stay strong. I often have breakdowns in the middle where I decide I’ll never figure out how to end the book," she admitted. "This is when other ideas come to me and I have to force myself not to get distracted."

Cindi usually does her research as she goes and has discovered that Wikipedia is a great jumping off point.

"It often points me in the direction to find out more about a certain subject," she explained. "I sometimes worry the police are going to come question me about all the strange things I research. I also have to look at hot guy pictures for research. Yes, research, I swear. Just let me wipe the drool off the computer and I can get to work with all the research I just did."

She was surprised, in her writing, to discover that she has a tendency to get a little dark.

"I never expected that, but I find broken characters so interesting. I’ve found a love for gothic tales as well. I love the creepy mystery mixed with romance. Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books, and I watch every movie adaptation that comes out. I love that those two characters find each other, despite all the tragedy they’ve had to face. I love even more that their love is stronger than looks. It’s based on who they are and how much they understand each other," she said with a big, happy sigh.

When Cindi was growing up, it wasn't a writer she wanted to be—it was a clothing designer.

"My 5-year-old daughter asked me this question," she told me, "and when I told her I wanted to be a clothing designer, she said, 'That’s sad that you didn’t get to be one.' I told her that I now get to design clothes as I write, and not only clothes, but also people and whole worlds. As soon as I started writing, I knew it’s what I was always meant to be."

"What is your favorite food?" I asked.

"Pizza. I love it. I once told my mom I was going to eat it every day when I grew up and had my own house. Unfortunately, every day doesn’t happen. But I make sure to get pizza every weekend. Cheesy awesomeness, only a few more days and you will be mine. I also love fries. I’d eat them with my pizza if I could. My least favorite food is mushrooms. They’re a weird texture, I’m not a fan of the taste and I’ve been to the mushroom farm. Those things are grown in straight-up chicken crap. It’s true. I bet it’s even on Wikipedia."

Cindi likes writing YA books because she likes teenagers.

"The teen years are often a challenging time in life where you’re figuring out who you are and who you want to be, combined with so many influences pulling you in all directions," she explained. "It’s a fun time, too. First dates, kisses, good friends. I like reading YA , like writing it, and love my audience. Nothing is better than finding out my teen reader almost got grounded over my book. Not that I want her grounded, but the fact the thread of a grounding isn’t enough to make her put the book down makes me feel like I’m doing something right."
When she was growing up, Cindi went from reading Anne of Green Gables and Nancy Drew to serial killer novels. She wasn't into the Sweet Valley High books like some of the other girls her age were, and there weren't a lot of YA novels—so she read about disturbing murders.

"I hid it from my mom because I knew she’d think they were too graphic. I guess I’ve always liked solving the mystery, so there’s always a little bit of that in my writing," she said. "Now I’m more about the books that have a strong romantic element. My favorite YA books let me get to know the characters as I go. A strong heroine I can cheer for is a must."

Finally, I asked, "What advice would you give a new writer just starting out?"

"Keep trying. Take workshops, pay attention to books you read—what works, what doesn’t. The language, the emotions, the plot, the pace. It can get overwhelming, but that’s a great way to learn."

Liv comes out of a coma with no memory of her past and two distinct, warring voices inside her head. Nothing, not even her reflection, seems familiar. As she stumbles through her junior year, the voices get louder, insisting she please the popular group while simultaneously despising them. But when Liv starts hanging around with Spencer, whose own mysterious past also has him on the fringe, life feels complete for the first time in, well, as long as she can remember.

Liv knows the details of the car accident that put her in the coma, but as the voices invade her dreams, and her dreams start feeling like memories, she and Spencer seek out answers. Yet the deeper they dig, the less things make sense. Can Liv rebuild the pieces of her broken past, when it means questioning not just who she is, but what she is?

Monday, November 12, 2012

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Diane will be awarding a $25 Amazon Gift Card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on her tour.

Where do ideas come from?

You’ll never hear me say I have nothing to write about. I have at least one idea each day that could be an entire novel. I don’t say that to brag. In fact, it’s a bit of a problem. With so many ideas, it’s easy to lose focus. Discovering new ideas is so exciting that it’s hard to continue plodding along with the same story for weeks, months, years, when I could be dabbling in a new idea every day. If only I had the gift of brevity! I could be the most prolific short-short fiction writer ever.

So where do all these distracting ideas come from? For me, inspiration comes mostly from the people I observe (and overhear) in everyday life. To steal a line from Stephen Chbosky, it’s one of the perks of being a wallflower. Every story I’ve ever written, short or long, has started with a character.

A woman with a birthmark on her forehead sitting alone in a coffee shop reading. The kid with the fresh tattoo on his arm bagging groceries down at Price Chopper. A couple on a train talking about how yet another of their friends has named her daughter Emily. Any of these can spark an entire story.

I observe these people and I want to know more about them. What brought them to these particular places at this moment? What do they want? What do they need? How do they interact with the world?

I try to put myself into that person’s shoes. What if I had noticeable a birthmark on my face? How would my mom act if I came home with a huge tattoo? What would it be like to have the same first name as four other girls in my first grade class? Sometimes the characters who come out of this exercise are a lot like me, and sometimes they are nothing like me, but they all start with me trying to get inside their heads.

Another of my favorite tricks to find inspiration is to write about situations I would hate to be in. That’s how I got to know my narrator in Watch Me Disappear and in the novel I’m currently working on. In Watch Me Disappear, the nightmare situation is having to start over at a new school for senior year of high school. In my current work-in-progress, it’s having to move back in with my mom as an adult who has been independent since college. The characters who I discover this way are like parallel-life versions of myself. They aren’t me, but they are informed by my experiences.

Arlo Guthrie says finding ideas for songs is like fishing. You cast your line and hope something bites. I think that if you pick a good stream and keep your eyes and ears open, something will.

About the Author:

Diane Vanaskie Mulligan began writing Watch Me Disappear during an after-school writing club she moderates for high school students. This is her first novel. She holds a BA in American Studies from Mount Holyoke College and a Master’s degree in teaching from Simmons College. When she isn’t teaching or writing, she’s the managing editor at The Worcester Review and the director of The Betty Curtis Worcester County Young Writers’ Conference. You can also find her occasionally strumming her guitar and singing at various bars in central Massachusetts, where she lives with her husband.

Lizzie knows it isn’t right to eavesdrop, but is it really eavesdropping if her neighbor Maura makes all of her phone calls on her parents’ pool deck in easy earshot of Lizzie’s backyard? And of course it’s wrong to go snooping around on someone else’s computer, but is it Lizzie’s fault that Maura keeps her computer turned on (and logged in to Facebook) all the time?

Lizzie Richard’s father has moved the family around every few years to advance his career, so she has never had a chance to develop the kind of “BFF” relationships she thinks most kids have. She’s bracing herself for another lonely year at her third high school when her new neighbor Maura gets sick of watching her little brother when she could be partying. Thanks to Maura’s plotting, Lizzie becomes everyone’s new favorite babysitter. Seeing her opportunity, Lizzie breaks her strict parents’ rules and uses Maura’s computer to create a secret Email address and Facebook account. She is quickly friended by Missy, a fellow transfer student as eager for a friend as she is. Things are looking up for Lizzie until Maura’s ex-boyfriend Paul sets his eye on Missy. Caught between her new best friend and the neighbor whose friendship promises instant popularity, Lizzie doesn’t know what to do—because she’s fallen for Paul, too.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Long and Short Reviews welcomes Emi Gayle, whose debut novel After Dark, the first book in The 19th Year series, was released October 31. The second book, Day After, and third book, Darkest Day, will be released next year. Leave a comment and you might win a download copy of After Dark and a signed bookmark (open to international commenters!)

Emi's been writing since 2009 when she wrote her first novel—111,000 words.

"I tucked it in a box and am purposefully letting it collect dust," she said.

Between her alter-ego and herself, she's written eleven books.

"What drives you to write books for kids and teenagers?" I asked.

"I liked the idea of going back to my younger years and of a time when I didn't know what I didn't know."

Emi read a lot of classics when she was a teen, but now she loves reading (and writing) paranormals. She told me that very little of her writing is based on her own experiences—because as far as she knows, she's never been a vampire or a werewolf or a fairy or anything supernatural, however her main character can be all of those things.

"I just think it's super cool to WANT to be those things -- which is kinda what we do as kids - try to figure out what we want to be when we 'grow up'," she said.

I wondered, "What challenges do you think teens face today that you did not?"

"Teens today are bombarded with technology and social elements that we never had. Not only can they deal with bullying and their own growth issues in school, it's also online so going home isn't necessarily 'a break' as it was 20-30 years ago. Being constantly connected is actually a detriment, I think."

Emi told me that, in her opinion, good writing is great and good storytelling is great. However, bad writing or storytelling is not. It's not one or the other, but it's a mix that works together.

Currently, the hardest part about writing for Emil is finding the time to write, between marketing, her alter-ego, drafts, edits, beta reading for friends—on top of being a wife, mother, and worker-bee. Luckily, she works from home, so as soon as she's finished with the day job she can switch to writing.

"Often though, work bleeds into my time and then I end up not writing," she said with a frown. "It bums me out, but it happens."

She loves hearing from her readers—whether it's email, tweets, or Facebook messages. She thinks it's awesome, claiming, "It's like Christmas in email any time I get a message."

"If you could apologize to someone in your past, who would it be?" I wondered.

"Already did it. When my son was about 5, my hubby and I both called our parents and apologized for being kids. To this day, I think they both saved those voice mail messages."

About the Author:

Emi Gayle just wants to be young again. She lives vicariously through her youthful characters, while simultaneously acting as chief-Mom to her teenage son and searching for a way to keep her two daughters from ever reaching the dreaded teen years.

Ironically, those years were some of Emi's favorite times. She met the man of her dreams at 14, was engaged to him at 19, married him at 20 and she's still in love with him to this day. She'll never forget what it was like to fall in love at such a young age — emotions she wants everyone to feel.

What eighteen year old Mac Thorne doesn’t know will probably kill her.

In exactly eight months, five days, three hours and thirteen minutes, Mac has to choose what she’ll be for the rest of her life.

She has no choice but to pick. As a Changeling, it’s her birthright. To Mac, it’s a birthchore. Like going to school with humans, interacting with humans, and pretending to be human during the pesky daylight hours.

Once darkness descends, Mac can change into any supernatural form that exists — which makes her as happy as she can be. That is, until Winn Thomas, the biggest geek in her senior class figures out there’s more to what hides in the dark than most are willing to acknowledge.

In this first of the 19th Year Trilogy, Winn might know more about Mac than even she does, and that knowledge could end their lives, unless Mac ensures the powers-that-be have no choice but to keep him around.